A possible pastime for Dubai’s ladies of leisure

Springwise talks about Elements, a crowd-sourced vegetarian restaurant set to open in Washington next year. The project was first launched in February last year, with just 14 members. The group, which now has 400 participants including designers, potential chefs and a local nonprofit called Live Green, expanded the original idea for a small cafe into a full-fledged, green-certified restaurant.
Members earn points for their participation efforts, such as attending meetings and referring new members, and those with at least 1 percent of the total points are eligible to share in the 10 percent of profits allocated to members.
Linda Welch, the business owner and presently the sole investor, says “Most businesses are started because you have a great idea, and you take it out to the public to see if they like it. This is the opposite. We’re finding out what people want and doing it.”
With the varied nationalities in Dubai, the idea of starting a collective restaurant could work quite well here. Elements says that its community is a “third place” between home and work for people. While it may be difficult for anybody to contribute too much time, a collective community could produce several ideas. The other benefit of a crowd-sourced restaurant is that at least it promises a constant customer base.
With many wives of executives at a loose end, bar nail salons and coffee with friends while their husbands work, a vegetarian/health conscious restaurant that calls on input from its customers could keep Dubai’s “Jumeirah Janes” busy.